Dear Next President:

I am a student at West Albany High School. Pet homelessness in the US has been increasing for several years and continues to rise. Homeless pets are major problem in the US and in many other countries. According to The Do Something Organization, “Only one in ten dogs find and stay with a permanent home.” This shows what a large problem pet homelessness is. The amount of pet homelessness has to be reduced significantly.

One of the major reasons for why there are so many homeless pets is that many pets do not have proper identification. According to The Do Something Organization, “less than two percent of stray cats are returned to their owners.” This is such a small number because of owners not properly identifying their pets. An animal is properly identified if it has a collar with identification tags or has been microchipped. The ASPCA states, “About twice as many animals enter shelters as strays compared to the number that are relinquished by their owners." Most likely the number of stray animals would reduce if they were correctly identified and claimed by their owners. Animals must have proper identification or the number of homeless pets will continue to rise at an excessive rate.

The number of homeless pets also needs to be reduced because many strays get hit by cars or die of starvation. According to The Pet’s Tec, “last year over 6,000,000 dogs and cats were hit on roads in the US.” If the number of stray pets goes down, then the number of pets that get hit by cars each year in the US will also be reduced. How many animals need to die before action will take place? Do these poor neglected dogs and cats need to go through all of the suffering that they encounter every day?

There are too many homeless pets in the United States. According to the Do Something Organization, “homeless pets outnumber homeless people 5 to 1.” This fact helps show how large the number homeless pets is in the US. The actual number of homeless pets in the US can not be calculated because they are constantly repopulating, getting killed, and getting caught by animal control. One way to stop the ever expanding population would be to spay and neuter as many animals as possible. By doing this, the animals that were spayed and neutered would no longer be able to repopulate. Eventually, the number of homeless pets would plateau and hopefully start going down. Homeless pets that are friendly could be put up for adoption to find a permanent home. By spaying and neutering homeless pets, the amount of homeless pets will go down.

The number of stray cats and dogs in the US is so large that it can’t be properly calculated. This is a wake up call to us that it is a major problem that needs to be fixed. Homeless pets get killed on a regular basis whether if it is in a shelter or on the road. How many animals need to die before this issue resolved? It is up to you to reduce the amount of homeless pets in the US.

Sincerely, Amelia